Chapter 99: Chapter 99

Jin’s POV
   Jin looks towards the Graylock sisters instinctively. Both of them are visibly shaken, with Aldenia doing so literally. No one spoke for a few seconds, so Jin decided to break the silence.

   “Why now? Why even do it in the first place?” he asks Austin.

   Austin shrugs. “I found now to be an appropriate timing, what with all of you about to expose what they were doing and all. Once the truth is out, they will definitely be severely punished, so I took it upon myself to give them a swift and painless death.”

   “Is it me, or is he kind of bad news?” Tatsuma asks with a whisper.

   “Oh, you have no idea.” Jin whispers back.

   “Wait a minute. You sound like you’ve killed every single researcher around the globe.” Tatsuma says to Austin.

   “Why, that’s exactly what I did.”

   Tatsuma looks at Jin for verification.

   “It’s possible for someone of his caliber.” Jin confirms.

   “My my, you think highly of me as usual. I’m flattered.”

   “You’re a scum, but I acknowledge that you’re one of the best Spellcaster in Ifezan.”

   Austin lets out a hearty chuckle.

   “Scum, you say. You should be called Silver Tongue for that praise.”

   “That word wasn’t meant to be used as a compliment.” Jin reminds him.

   “This is the “seeing the glass as half-full” kind of situation, is it not?”

   Jin shakes his head to stop himself from going any further. He’s not going to have a friendly debate with Austin, of all people.

   “Why are you showing yourself in front of us?” he asks instead.

   “I’m here to give you a warning, for old time’s sake.”

   “A warning?”

   “That’s right. In a few months’ time, the Kingdom of Ustadel is going to declare war on the governments of this world.”

   Jin inhales his breath sharply at that.

   “I think some of us here need some context.” Tatsuma requests softly.

   “That’s the kingdom where most humans reside at Ifezan where I was summoned as the Hero.” Jin explains in a normal tone for the benefit of those who were listening.

   “So, you helped them to defeat the Demon Lord, but this is how they repay you? By declaring war?”

   “Honestly, I have no idea what that king of theirs is thinking-”

   Jin pauses.

   “-On second thought. I think I do.” he corrects himself. “He wants to start a war just so that he could be a ruler of this world, isn’t he?”

   The last part was directed towards Austin. The father of the Graylock sister nods in confirmation.

   “That’s right. As you might already know, King Alistair is a greedy person. Now that he has most of Ifezan in his pocket, his next target is Earth.”

   “If that was his plan in the beginning, why sent me back here?” Jin couldn’t help but ask.

   “I suppose he wants the invasion to be full of challenges, and who could offer a better one than the one who defeated the Demon Lord himself?”

   Jin suddenly remembers someone he hasn’t thought of for quite a while.

   “Wait a second. Where does Princess Beatrice stand in this?”

   “Ah, her. As you might have expected, she was quite against this. In fact, she was so defiant that King Alistair disowned her.”

   “So, what? She’s a commoner now?”

   “A commoner AND a wanted fugitive.”

   “...Seriously? What exactly did she do?”

   “She was planning a coup to overthrow her father along with those who were also against the invasion. She was the only one who escaped her father’s wrath. Everyone else was, well, shall we say paid for their sins with their own lives?”

   “And she’s still alive?”

   “I didn’t receive any report that she has passed away. Even if she wasn’t found by those loyal to her father, there are a million ways to die at Ifezan, as you might well know.”

   “Report, you say. Let me guess, you decided to side with the King and his cronies.”

   “That I did. I am an opportunist, after all. Besides, the offer given by His Majesty was too lucrative to refuse.”

   Jin isn’t even going to ask the content of the reward. It’s probably all the humans he needs so that he could conduct all kinds of disgusting experiments.

   “I’ve been meaning to ask this for a while. Is he the guy that you talked about back at the meeting?” Tatsuma asks.

   “Yup, that’s him.” Jin confirms.

   Tatsuma looks at the Graylock sisters.

   “And they’re his daughters.”

   “Yup.”

   Austin looks at Audrey and flashes her a smile, a cold one devoid of fatherly love, or any sort of positive emotion for that matter.

   “Hello there, daughter. It has been a while since we last spoke with each other.” he greets her.

   “Indeed it has, father.” she agrees stiffly while inclining her head. “It has to be said, you are not supposed to be alive.”

   Austin chuckles at that.

   “I couldn’t agree more. That said, it was out of my control, so I’m sure that I’ll be forgiven.”

   “I assume that you’re not going to off yourself?” Jin asks drily.

   Another hearty chuckle from the man.

   “Heavens, no! Now that I was granted a second chance, I wish to put it to good use.”

   “Say, is the decking going to happen anytime soon?” Tatsuma asks softly from the corner of his mouth.

   “No, at least not now. This one’s a mere hologram. The real one’s probably somewhere far away right now.”

   “Aww.”

   Austin looks at Audrey once more.

   “I assume that you still have my ring?” he asks her.

   “Yes, father. However, should you wish to have it back you will have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers.” Audrey informs defiantly.

   “There’s no need for that. You may keep it if you treasure it so much.”

   Audrey is visibly taken aback by that.

   “Are you absolutely positive about that?” she asks.

   She has the look of someone who couldn’t believe what she just heard. And its no wonder. Back when Jin was still at Ifezan, Jin has heard countless stories of how much of a possessive person Austin Graylock is, the most infamous one being he has killed an entire town of people just because a man who lived there accidentally sold off a Spell book owned by Austin.

   “Of course, dear. It’s nothing but an accessory. There’s no need for us to kill each other over something so trivial.”

   Audrey’s expression became dark next. Jin hasn’t the faintest clue about the history of that ring of theirs, but it’s probably something big if she’s being that upset.

   “Besides, it’s not like you can decipher the ancient words carved on the ring.” Austin continues while flashing Audrey a condescending smile.

   Audrey could only grits her teeth at that.

   “And what even is the point in doing that? Spell Enhance can only be bestowed to a Graylock, and you and I are the only ones left.”

   As he said that, he looks at Aldenia with complete disdain. The latter’s trembling has increased even further under the cold glare.

   “She is a Graylock through and through!” Audrey jumps to her half-sister’s defense.

   Austin merely shrugs at that.

   “If you say so. I, for one, do not and will never acknowledge her as one of my own. Well, it has been fun having this chat with you. I should take my leave now. I believe Hatred will take care of you.”

   Shino starts growling like a rabid dog. Austin looks downwards and smiles.

   “And it’s about time too. The girl probably can’t wait to tear apart all of you. If I stay any longer she might even want to turn on me.”

   And boy oh boy Jin wishes that to happen and just let the two of them fight each other. It won’t sadly, as he had pointed out to Tatsuma that the Austin they see here is nothing but an astral projection of himself.

   “Before I go, the remaining Four Demon Marquis and the Demon Lord himself will not show themselves until the war begins.”

   “Yeah, I thought that would be the case.” Jin says drily while nodding his head a few times.

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   “Now then, I shall take my leave. Have a good evening, all of you.” Austin says his farewell while waving his right hand cheerfully.

   With that, he poofs out of existence, leaving Jin, his allies and Shino.

   “Finally, the pest is gone…” Shino growls.

   Jin is rather surprised that Shino didn’t proceed with her attacks while Austin was still around. Maybe he traumatized her or something.

   “Well, I’m glad that was over. I guess we can end this now.” Tatsuma says while looking relieved.

   “Indeed.” Jin agrees.

   The mouths resume their ferocious attacks. This time, though, Jin decides to go all out. He stabs Felfarthen at the ground in front of him and flies towards Shino like a ballista bolt. In the blink of an eye, he’s standing right in front of his sister. Before she could even react, he punched her hard in the stomach. She bends over while gasped out in pain. She also puked a little. Even so, he’s far from done.

   A punch to the face. A knee to the lower jaw. A hook to the ribs. Jin held back a lot, but at the same time made sure all his attacks hurt. He attacked her way more times than necessary, but he doesn’t care. He has always hated her, and this is too good an opportunity for him to just let go. Just like how he wrecked their father, this beating did wonders to his stress.

   He stopped at his eighth strike, mostly because Shino was on the verge of dying. She collapsed on the ground like a mannequin that got her strings cut off, and she’s breathing heavily. He vaguely remembered hearing some of her bones breaking too. Well, he can’t go overboard, even if it’s her he’s talking about. He lets out a satisfied sigh and turns his neck to look at his allies.

   “She’s down.” he tells them.

   Tatsuma was the first one to react.

   “So, what should we do about her?” he asks.

   Jin thinks about it for a moment.

   “I have no idea,” he confesses. “Maybe we should just throw her behind bars.”

   “Don’t even joke about that!” Ayumi chides.

   “...Why are you assuming that I was joking?”

   She shakes her head, as if she can’t believe he’s being so cold-blooded. She ought to know what kind of person he is after they have worked together for so long.

   “Just go inside the lab and help those two to get the experimented people outside their cells or something while I think of what to do with her.” he says as he shoos them away.

   “Do we really have to? I’m tired from all the fighting just now~!” Miko complains.

   “Oh, stop complaining and let’s go already.” Tatsuma says to her as he drags her towards the entrance to the building.

   “Nooooooooo~!”

   Jin waits patiently until all of them have entered the building. When Ayumi reaches the entrance, she stops and stands in front of him. She looks at Shino, who’s still collapsed on the floor, then at Jin. She didn’t say and do anything except staring at him. He decides to give up. He raises up both his hands.

   “Alright, alright. I’ll be taking her to a hospital after this.” he confesses.

   “You’re not using your healing spell on her?”

   Jin averts his eyes.

   “I don’t know any.”

   “You know, you probably hang out around Esty-san for way too long. Now your lying got as bad as hers.”

   “Drat. Just, leave her to me, okay?”

   “...Okay. But let me say this to you. You should make up with her. She’s your you-know-what, right?”

   Jin merely shrugs at that. “Doesn’t change the fact that we’ve always hated each other.”

   Ayumi opens her mouth in an attempt to say something, but Jin stops her by raising his left hand.

   “Look, I know I shouldn’t say this to you when you’ve lost your elder sister and has your elder brother being turned into a servant, but this is between the two of us. I would really appreciate it if you would leave it at that.”

   “...Fine.” Ayumi agrees grudgingly.

   “Thanks. Now run along. I’m pretty sure that Meiko is waiting for you.”

   Jin made sure that Ayumi has entered the building for real before looking at Shino.

   “Well, let’s get this over with.” he mumbles with a volume that could only be heard by him.

Shino’s POV
   The moment Shino regains consciousness, she feels like her entire body is going to fall apart. That’s probably not far away from the truth. She could tell that at least half of the bones in her body are broken, and some more are on the verge of breaking. It’s a real miracle that she’s still alive. The next thing she feels is the strong wind blowing at her face. It’s so strong the sensation is quite unpleasant, especially when most of her face are injured. She slowly opens her eyes. What she saw made her thought process goes haywire.

   She’s flying. That was the real reason the wind was blowing so strongly.

   …No. She’s not the one that’s flying, the person who’s giving her a piggyback is. And that person is Silver Wolf, the person she hates the most in the whole wide world.

   She wanted to scream, she wanted to make him lose balance so that he would drop her, she wanted to do so many things. And yet, something is stopping her. It took her a few seconds to properly register the reason. Even though he’s wearing an armor right now, the sensation of his back feels very familiar. The last time she felt the same way was when she was five. She remembered that she fell down at a park near her house and injured her right knee. Someone piggybacked her all the way back to their house…

   “...Onii-chan?” she asks softly.

   Silver Wolf stops flying at once. He lets out a long sigh before resuming his flight.

   “Great, just great. Of all the people who figured out my true identity…” he grumbles.

   So it really is him. Minase Jin, Shino’s elder brother, is Silver Wolf.

   “So, are you going to say anything to me at all?”

   “We’re about to reach the nearest hospital.”

   Shino waits patiently for a few seconds.

   “...That’s it?”

   “If you’re expecting an apology from me, you can stop dreaming.” he tells her bluntly. “I still hate you, and I was very glad that I got an excuse to beat you up.”

   Shino grunts. “Fair enough. And our father?”

   “He got possessed by an evil spirit.”

   So she really did saw something entering her father back then.

   “You know, I’m pretty sure that you could get that ghost out without even hurting him.”

   “And miss the chance of beating him up? Not a chance.”

   Soon, Shino sees lots of bright lights underneath them. Jin descends and lands in front of a hospital. He goes inside and heads straight to the reception counter. The receptionist included, everyone nearby were staring at him with a surprised expression.

   “Can you get me a wheelchair? ” he asks the female receptionist on duty.

   His voice snapped her back to reality.

   “Yes, right away.”

   The receptionist picked up the phone next to her and called someone. After the call was made, she assured them that one is on its way. While waiting, they got the registration done. Shino gave the receptionist a fake name just in case her family members are a victim of her father (or more precisely the evil spirit).

   “Are there any family members of yours that we can contact?” the receptionist asks.

   That got Shino all tongue-tied. Father, for obvious reasons, can’t come here. Mother, on the other hand, is probably-

   “No.” she replies.

   Besides, one is already right here with her.

   The receptionist shows a slightly troubled look. She’s probably worried that no one can pay for Shino’s hospital fee.

   “If it’s money that you’re worried about, I’ll be the one who’s going to pay for it.” Jin says all of a sudden.

   The troubled look on the receptionist disappears in an instant.

   The wheelchair soon arrives, and Jin places Shino on it. He was surprisingly gentle, even though he was the one who made her needing one in the first place.

   “There are regular rooms which she is going to share with other patients, and private rooms that she gets to stay in all by herself. Naturally, the fees of the latter are more expensive.” The receptionist informs Jin as Shino is trying her best to be comfortable in the wheelchair.

   “I want a private room.” Shino requests at once.

   Jin shrugs. “It’s better for the others if you stayed in one, anyway.”

   Jin told the receptionist that he and Shino will head to the room by themselves, so they were informed of the room number and its location. Shino is kind of upset that Jin refuses to push her from behind, but Jin was so indifferent she has to make the wheelchair move by herself.

   Neither of them said a thing along the way. After all, they’re quite a number of people around. Most of the things they said might not be for everyone’s ears.

   The room prepared for her is medium-sized, and so is the bed. At least she doesn’t have to share it with some random strangers.

   “Well, I need to head back to the lab.” Jin tells her after he helped her to get on the bed.

   “Sure. See you around.”

   “Don’t say something that you don’t mean.”

   Shino smiles at that. “You got me.”

   After Jin leaves the room, Shino lies down on the bed and closes her eyes. For the first time in months, she could sleep in a normal environment. That is, until a doctor came into the room.

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